Drudge says Newsweek sitting on Lewinsky story, Jan. 17, 1998

On this day in 1998, the Drudge Report carried an item on its website alleging that Newsweek magazine was sitting on a story exposing an affair between President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a 22-year-old White House intern.

Ten days later, Clinton, with his wife beside him, told reporters: “… I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people. Thank you.”

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The next day, Hillary Clinton said on NBC’s “Today” show: “The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president.”

On July 28, Lewinsky received transactional immunity from Kenneth Starr, an independent counsel who had been named by a three-judge panel, freeing her to tell grand jurors about her relationship with Clinton. She also turned over a semen-stained blue dress to investigators that provided DNA evidence undermining Clinton’s earlier denials. At the urging of Lewinsky’s friend, Linda Tripp, the dress had not been dry-cleaned.

Clinton admitted to grand jurors on Aug. 17 that he had had an “improper physical relationship” with Lewinsky. That evening, he said on national television that his relationship with Lewinsky was “not appropriate.”

The House, dividing along largely partisan lines, impeached Clinton on Dec. 19, 1998. The issue then went to the Senate, where after a five-week trial, he was acquitted.